Vevo follows Uber, Square into new tech hub on Market Street

Rowan Reynolds (left) and Keith Walewski at the unveiling of Vevo’s new office space in the Mid-Market area.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

2 of 2

Left: Gigwell DJ Jeremy Habib plays at the party for Vevo, a music-video streaming company, which unveiled the new space this week.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

A scantily clad Selena Gomez crooned on screen Wednesday evening as some 200 engineers, salespeople and others sipped cocktails and shouted over the pumping of house music mixed by executives who moonlight as DJs. The music, a loud medley more suited for a San Francisco club than an office space, pulsed through the walls.

As elevator doors opened, workers from other floors peered out to see what all the noise was about: Vevo had arrived.

The music-video-streaming service is the latest tech company to take up residence at 1455 Market St., occupying a floor in the same building that houses on-demand car service Uber and mobile payments company Square. The building, on the corner of 11th Street, is a block away from Twitter’s headquarters and in the midst of an area, once nicknamed “The Hub” for the four streetcar lines that pass through, that the city hopes to develop.

“Over the last several years, this part of town has really been rejuvenated, and if we can be part of that, I think that’s a great story,” said Vevo CEO Erik Huggers. “Being in the city is important. ... It really helps us get a fresh, young, diverse set of people to work with us.”

The company has its headquarters in New York and offices in Los Angeles, Portland, Berlin, London and elsewhere. But it plans to make its San Francisco outpost Vevo’s largest office.

Above: Android developers play pingpong at the party celebrating Vevo’s move into its new offices on San Francisco’s Market Street.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

By year’s end, Huggers said, more than 100 people, 25 percent of the company, will be working in its Market Street office.

“It’s really the hub for product design and engineering,” said Huggers, who is moving from the New York headquarters to work out of the new San Francisco office.

It’s the latest in a spate of tech companies that deal in music or audio entertainment to flock to the area.

Spotify, the Stockholm music-streaming company, has an office in Mid-Market, near Sixth Street. Deezer, a French music-streaming company, operates its podcast streaming property, Stitcher Radio, from the South of Market neighborhood.

Vevo’s engineers and product designers had until February been operating in a small space in Shaw Alley, a small plaza in the Financial District off Mission Street. It was raw, cramped and unsavory, Huggers said. It was time to move.

“We went from this tiny little attic, which had a lot of charm and a lot of critters, and we said, ‘That’s it. We need a proper space,’” Huggers said. “It was important to send a message to the company and the community that we’re for real, and we’re here. We’re investing in this space and what is becoming an iconic address in the city.”

Tech companies have long been an indicator — and catalyst — of change in the city.

At its debut party late Wednesday, Miguel Alvarado, Vevo’s vice president of data and analytics, spun records as prospective workers, clients and employees mingled. Guests swigged sparkling wine and mixed drinks from the bar set up by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Others plucked beers from the office’s fully stocked fridge.

In the other room, where there are desks and conference rooms named for San Francisco music venues, some Vevo employees put on their noise-canceling headphones and continued to work. A giant framed poster of Adele peered sultrily over the pingpong table.

Marissa Lang covers the intersection of technology and culture for the San Francisco Chronicle, focusing on how the tech industry and technology itself influence and reshape the Bay Area, its people and communities. She covers Twitter, Facebook and the influence of social media, diversity in tech, and the rise of fake news. Marissa joined the Chronicle in 2015. Previously, she covered City Hall for the Sacramento Bee, criminal justice and same-sex marriage for the Salt Lake Tribune and breaking news for the Tampa Bay Times. Born and raised in New York City, Marissa feels the most comfortable in bustling metropolises and is interested in issues of diversity and social justice. Se habla español.